Arizona State University set for Lake Havasu campus

First of low-cost sites throughout the state

by Anne Ryman - Sept. 23, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Arizona State University has been given the green light to establish the first in a series of low-cost satellite campuses in Lake Havasu City, part of an innovative effort to provide less-expensive college options across the state.

The state's largest public university on Thursday got permission from the Arizona Board of Regents to move forward with plans to establish an undergraduate campus in the Mohave County community.

Scheduled to open in fall 2012, it will be the first of the new brand of Colleges@ASU, a network of lower-cost schools offering a handful of undergraduate majors.

Colleges@ASU is part of a redesign of the state university system aimed at giving students lower-priced alternatives to higher education. Over the past decade, tuition has skyrocketed at the three state research universities, underscoring the need for less-expensive options.

Unlike many other states, Arizona has no state college system where students can earn four-year degrees at a lower cost than that charged by the premier research universities. Students either attend community colleges and then transfer or enroll directly in one of the three research universities: ASU, the University of Arizona or Northern Arizona University.

Colleges@ASU will offer another option. In Lake Havasu, ASU expects to have at least 130 full-time students the first year and 700 the fifth year. ASU, in a report to the regents, said that these are conservative figures and that it will "work diligently to exceed those numbers."

The school is expected to draw students from Bullhead City, Parker, Kingman and Southern California, in addition to Lake Havasu City.

Tuition rates won't be set until next year but are expected to be less than $6,000 a year for Arizona residents. By comparison, tuition and fees for freshmen at ASU's Tempe campus run $9,720 a year.

Degree offerings still need to be finalized, but possibilities include psychology, life sciences, communications, operations management and a bachelor's degree in nursing for people who are already registered nurses.

The university's presence will help Lake Havasu diversify its economy, said the city's mayor, Mark Nexsen. Home to the famous London Bridge, the community of 52,500 people relies mainly on tourism. It's a popular spring-break destination for college students, and the mild winter climate attracts retirees.

The addition of ASU will make the community more attractive to companies, Nexsen said, and the downtown location will provide a boost for shops and restaurants. A group of Lake Havasu residents and business leaders has been working for years to land a four-year university. It met with ASU officials more than two years ago about setting up a campus.

ASU officials agreed, as long as the community provided the facilities and $2 million toward renovation costs.

Earlier this month, the non-profit Havasu Foundation for Higher Education announced the goal had been met. A $1 million donation from Jim and Shirley Santiago, longtime residents and owners of Lake Havasu's BeachComber Resort, helped reach the fundraising target.

The Lake Havasu Unified School District is providing rent-free space in a vacant middle school.

Lake Havasu will be the university's fifth campus. The 72,250-student university has campuses in Tempe, Mesa, the West Valley and downtown Phoenix.

Because it's lower-cost, the Lake Havasu campus won't have all the amenities of the other campuses such as dorms or recreation centers.

University officials said the Lake Havasu partnership is a model they hope to replicate elsewhere.

"This has been a fantastic experience for us at ASU working with a community engaged at this level," ASU President Michael Crow said.

Officials aren't sure how many colleges there will be in the network.

The Colleges@ASU concept depends on cities or other partners to provide the facilities while ASU operates the programs. The tough economy has made it difficult for cities to come up with funding. Efforts to bring an ASU campus to Goodyear, for instance, failed.

ASU officials are also studying the feasibility of a campus in Payson, said Rich Stanley, ASU senior vice president and university planner.

Colleges@ASU is one example of how the university system is trying to provide less-expensive options. The universities also have also added more "3-plus-1 programs," in which students can earn three years' worth of college credits at community colleges before transferring to a state university for the last year.

Last year, NAU opened the first lower-cost campus since the redesign of the university system, called NAU-Yavapai. It's located in the Prescott Valley Public Library.